47.7 Docker on Windows with WSL 2, step by step

Example 1: Check the Windows version (PowerShell)

Type this:

winver
[System.Environment]::OSVersion.Version

You will see:

Version 23H2 (OS Build 22631.4317)
Major  Minor  Build  Revision
10     0      22631  0

What it means: Build 19041 or higher is needed. 22631 is Windows 11, which is fine. Open PowerShell from the Start menu to type these.

Example 2: Check virtualization

Type this:

systeminfo | findstr /i "Virtualization"

You will see:

Virtualization Enabled In Firmware: Yes

What it means: If it says No, restart, enter the BIOS (often F2 or Del) and turn on Intel VT-x or AMD-V. Your office IT team may need to do this.

Example 3: Open PowerShell as admin

Type this:

Start-Process powershell -Verb runAs

You will see:

(a new blue window opens and asks: Do you want to allow this app to make changes? Yes)

What it means: The next commands change Windows features, so they need admin rights.

Example 4: Install

Type this:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu-24.04

You will see:

Installing: Virtual Machine Platform
Installing: Windows Subsystem for Linux
Installing: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
The requested operation is successful. Changes will not be effective until the system is rebooted.

What it means: Restart the laptop when it asks.

Example 5: Create your Linux user

Type this:

(after reboot, Ubuntu opens by itself)

You will see:

Enter new UNIX username: ravi
New password:
Installation successful!

What it means: This user and password are only for Linux inside WSL, separate from your Windows login. Use a strong password and do not reuse your Windows one.

Example 6: Check the WSL version

Type this:

wsl -l -v

You will see:

  NAME            STATE           VERSION
* Ubuntu-24.04    Running         2

What it means: VERSION must be 2. If it shows 1, run wsl --set-version Ubuntu-24.04 2.

Example 7: Update the WSL kernel (PowerShell)

Type this:

wsl --update
wsl --version | Select-String 'Kernel'

You will see:

Checking for updates.
The most recent version of Windows Subsystem for Linux is already installed.
Kernel version: 5.15.153.1-2

What it means: The kernel is recent. Docker needs 5.x or newer.

Example 8: Update Ubuntu (inside Ubuntu)

Type this:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

You will see:

Reading package lists... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove

What it means: Now the Ubuntu inside WSL is up to date.

Example 9: Check you are inside Linux

Type this:

uname -a

You will see:

Linux LAPTOP-RAVI 5.15.153.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 #1 SMP x86_64 GNU/Linux

What it means: The word microsoft-standard-WSL2 shows this is the WSL 2 kernel.

Example 10: Check if systemd is running

Type this:

ps -p 1 -o comm=

You will see:

init

What it means: If it prints init, systemd is off. If it prints systemd, skip to the next step.

Example 11: Turn it on

Type this:

printf '[boot]\nsystemd=true\n' | sudo tee /etc/wsl.conf

You will see:

[boot]
systemd=true

What it means: printf writes two lines and sudo tee saves them as root.

Example 12: Restart WSL (PowerShell) and check

Type this:

wsl --shutdown
wsl -d Ubuntu-24.04 -e ps -p 1 -o comm=

You will see:

systemd

What it means: Process 1 is now systemd. Services like Docker can start.

Example 13: Add key and repository

Type this:

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list

You will see:

deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu noble stable

What it means: Same three steps as on a server.

Example 14: Install the packages

Type this:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

You will see:

Setting up docker-ce (5:27.3.1-1~ubuntu.24.04~noble) ...

What it means: Docker Engine is now inside WSL.

Example 15: Join the group and test

Type this:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker
docker run --rm hello-world | head -2

You will see:

Hello from Docker!

What it means: Docker works inside WSL, with no Docker Desktop and no licence cost.

Example 16: Start nginx inside WSL

Type this:

docker run -d --name web -p 8080:80 nginx:1.27

You will see:

4c1d...

What it means: Same command as on Linux.

Example 17: Open it from PowerShell

Type this:

curl.exe -s http://localhost:8080 | Select-String title

You will see:

<title>Welcome to nginx!</title>

What it means: Windows reached the container. Open http://localhost:8080 in Edge too.

Example 18: Find the WSL IP if localhost fails

Type this:

hostname -I

You will see:

172.24.112.5

What it means: On some VPN laptops localhost forwarding is blocked. Then use this IP from Windows: http://172.24.112.5:8080.

Example 19: Make a project folder in Linux

Type this:

mkdir -p ~/projects/menu-api && cd ~/projects/menu-api
printf 'print("menu ok")\n' > app.py
ls

You will see:

app.py

What it means: The project lives in the fast Linux filesystem, not on C drive.

Example 20: Open it in VS Code

Type this:

code .

You will see:

Installing VS Code Server for x64 ...
(VS Code opens with WSL: Ubuntu-24.04 in the corner)

What it means: VS Code runs on Windows but reads files inside WSL.

Example 21: Run the file with Docker

Type this:

docker run --rm -v "$PWD":/app -w /app python:3.12-slim python app.py

You will see:

menu ok

What it means: Code edited in VS Code, run in a container, all on a Windows laptop.

Example 22: Time a copy on C drive

Type this:

time cp -r /usr/share/doc /mnt/c/Users/ravi/doc-test

You will see:

real    0m41.20s

What it means: Slow, because every file crosses from Linux to Windows.

Example 23: Time the same copy in Linux

Type this:

time cp -r /usr/share/doc ~/doc-test

You will see:

real    0m0.85s

What it means: Almost 50 times faster in the Linux folder.

Example 24: Clean up

Type this:

rm -rf ~/doc-test /mnt/c/Users/ravi/doc-test
docker rm -f web

You will see:

web

What it means: Keep projects in ~/projects inside WSL.

Example 25: Write the config (PowerShell)

Type this:

Set-Content -Path $env:USERPROFILE\.wslconfig -Value "[wsl2]`nmemory=4GB`nprocessors=2"
Get-Content $env:USERPROFILE\.wslconfig

You will see:

[wsl2]
memory=4GB
processors=2

What it means: WSL may now use at most 4 GB of memory and 2 CPUs.

Example 26: Restart WSL to apply

Type this:

wsl --shutdown

You will see:

(no output)

What it means: WSL stops and starts fresh next time you open Ubuntu.

Example 27: Check inside Ubuntu

Type this:

free -h | head -2
nproc

You will see:

               total        used        free
Mem:           3.8Gi       420Mi       3.2Gi
2

What it means: The limits are active. Your Windows apps stay fast.

Example 28: Virtualization is off

Type this:

wsl --install -d Ubuntu-24.04

You will see:

WslRegisterDistribution failed with error: 0x80370102
Please enable the Virtual Machine Platform Windows feature and ensure virtualization is enabled in the BIOS.

What it means: Turn on virtualization in the BIOS, then run wsl --install again.

Example 29: Docker service is not running

Type this:

docker ps

You will see:

Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?

What it means: systemd is off, or Docker did not start. Check ps -p 1 -o comm=, then run sudo systemctl start docker.

Example 30: No internet inside WSL on a company VPN

Type this:

sudo apt-get update

You will see:

Temporary failure resolving 'archive.ubuntu.com'

What it means: The VPN changed DNS. Add [wsl2] and networkingMode=mirrored to .wslconfig, run wsl --shutdown, and try again. Many Infosys and Wipro laptops need this.

Example 31: Export to a file (PowerShell)

Type this:

wsl --shutdown
wsl --export Ubuntu-24.04 D:\backup\ubuntu-docker.tar

You will see:

Export in progress, this may take a few minutes.
The operation completed successfully.

What it means: The file holds your Linux, Docker, images and projects.

Example 32: Import on another laptop

Type this:

wsl --import Ubuntu-Work C:\WSL\Ubuntu-Work D:\backup\ubuntu-docker.tar

You will see:

Import in progress, this may take a few minutes.
The operation completed successfully.

What it means: A new copy called Ubuntu-Work now exists.

Example 33: Open the imported copy

Type this:

wsl -d Ubuntu-Work -u ravi -e docker images --format '{{.Repository}}:{{.Tag}}'

You will see:

nginx:1.27
python:3.12-slim
hello-world:latest

What it means: Everything came across. Teams at Capgemini hand new joiners a ready WSL file like this.